Ex-Sonoma deputy investigated over use of Taser

A criminal investigation was launched after a rookie Sonoma County sheriff ’s deputy allegedly used excessive force by deploying a Taser on a military veteran and beating him with a baton during a domestic dispute call, officials said.

The deputy, Scott Thorne, stopped working for the Sonoma County Sheriff ’s Office within two weeks of the September incident, Sgt. Spencer Crum, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff ’s Office, said Friday. Thorne had been a member of the sheriff ’s department for about six months.

Crum would not say if Thorne was fired or resigned, citing state law barring him from releasing such information.

Concerns arose when the department and the Sonoma County district attorney’s office reviewed police body-camera footage of the incident, officials said.

“I do believe this is an anomaly, and I understand people are upset, just like me,” Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas told KTVU. “We’ve reached out to the man and apologized to him directly.”

The Santa Rosa Police Department and the Sonoma County district attorney’s office are conducting the criminal investigation.

Thorne and deputies Anthony Diehm and Beau Zastrow responded to an undisclosed address in an unincorporated area of Sonoma Valley at 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 24 after a caller reported overhearing a loud argument at a neighbor’s home.

The deputies were let into the home by a woman who answered the door. One deputy took the woman to a room for questioning. Thorne and the third deputy forcibly entered a locked bedroom to question the woman’s husband, who ignored orders to open the door, Crum said.

The husband, whose name was not released, was lying on a bed and did not respond to Thorne’s orders to stand up, according to Crum. Thorne grabbed the man’s arm and when the man pulled away, Thorne deployed his Taser and shot him in the stomach, Crum said.

The man was able to sit up and pull out the Taser prongs, Crum said, prompting Thorne to strike him in the leg with a baton, he said. Thorne continued repeatedly hitting the man, who attempted to run toward the bedroom door, Crum said.

The other deputies helped restrain the man, and one also fired a Taser, hitting him in the back, Crum said.

The man was taken to a local hospital and treated. He was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail at 1:12 a.m. on Sept. 25 on suspicion of threatening an officer, resisting and obstructing an officer and battery of an officer. He was released on $10,000 bail about an hour later.

After reviewing the case, prosecutors declined to file charges against him.

“We treat people right generally, and this kind of behavior gives a black eye to us and law enforcement,” said Assistant Sheriff Robert Giordano, adding that the department is reviewing and changing its practices on the use of force.

Thorne began working for the department in April 2016. The two other deputies involved in the incident — Diehm, a member of the force since 2015, and Zastrow, who joined the department in 2013 — are still employed with the sheriff ’s office.

When Giordano saw the footage, he said there were multiple instances throughout the altercation that he felt the use of force was unnecessary and inappropriate. The sheriff ’s office is now enforcing a policy for supervisors to screen and evaluate every instance in which force is used by a deputy, Giordano added.

“In order to use force, you have to be defending yourself,” Giordano said. “We are sorry this happened. We don’t tolerate it.”

Nearly a month after the incident, the man is still dealing with his injuries, said his attorney, Izaak Schwaiger. He said the man’s injuries included bruises, welts, a hurt shoulder and possible neurological damage.

“These are not the kind of people that you would think would end up on the other side of a police baton,” Schwaiger said.

The man is a military veteran and former law enforcement officer with a “spotless” criminal record, Schwaiger added. He said he and his client are planning to wait and see what happens with the criminal investigation.

“The most noteworthy part of all this is the criminal investigation,” Schwaiger said. “If you want to change the culture of a law enforcement agency and you want to tell them excessive force is not appropriate, this is the way to do it.”